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Full-Text Articles in Cultural History

Let's All Go To The Lobby: Examining The American Cold War Experience Through Film, Renaldo Gonzales Jr. Apr 2026

Let's All Go To The Lobby: Examining The American Cold War Experience Through Film, Renaldo Gonzales Jr.

GLI MA in American History Student Works

The films of the American film industry produced and released during the Cold War are as varied as the complex events that occurred throughout the entirety of the conflict. These films can provide an understanding of how the feelings and attitudes of the American people shifted and evolved as the Cold War progressed. This work will examine a small sample of these films, focusing on one film from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. By providing critiques and reviews of the film from the time of its original release, information about the motives of the director of the films being …


Longest Marriage In The World: Is Chocolate The Secret To Love?, Simon Brown Feb 2026

Longest Marriage In The World: Is Chocolate The Secret To Love?, Simon Brown

CAFE Symposium 2026

Although chocolate has always represented love in some facets, its expression has manifested into something poetic since its founding over 50 centuries ago. This poeticizing of chocolate's relationship with love was formed through the transportation of chocolate from Mesoamerica to Europe, and Europe to America. Whether it’s through Valentines Day, forgiveness gifts, or just a sweet treat added to a nice card, chocolate has become a token of appreciation usable for almost every occasion. Examining the timeline of affection created through both cacao and chocolate, this paper will explore chocolates’ transition from a food of lust to a gift of …


Reporting On The Dark Continent: The Albert Chance Collection As An American Representation Of Africa, Devon Szczepkowicz Apr 2025

Reporting On The Dark Continent: The Albert Chance Collection As An American Representation Of Africa, Devon Szczepkowicz

Student Publications

For Americans in the throes of World War II, the international world was a complex and uncertain place. The news media, which offered reports from the war fronts, helped to ground Americans in this world. Another source which supplemented these reports, and which has been overlooked in the historiography, was the letters of soldiers stationed abroad. In writing on their surroundings, soldiers acted as journalists, supplying their audiences with intimate insights into foreign locations. Albert Chance (1903-1990), stationed in North Africa and in Italy, was one such soldier. His letters from North Africa provide a glimpse into the ways in …


Common Threads In Monsters Across Time And Space, Jade Gladue Feb 2025

Common Threads In Monsters Across Time And Space, Jade Gladue

CAFE Symposium 2025

Fear is an undeniable human emotion, and monsters have always been a way for human societies to grapple with and explain our fears. In this project, common aspects and groupings of monsters across different indigenous cultures and folklores are discussed and dissected to determine inherent human reactions to fear. The project identifies and analyzes types of monsters and what the hidden meaning behind the existence and endurance of these creatures might be.


"Is There Any Possibility That They Might Have Remained Alive?": The George Barlaz Papers And The Search For Family After The Holocaust, Jacob Kahn-Samuelson Oct 2024

"Is There Any Possibility That They Might Have Remained Alive?": The George Barlaz Papers And The Search For Family After The Holocaust, Jacob Kahn-Samuelson

Student Publications

The paper explores the topic of American Jews searching for their families after the Holocaust. The paper uses the George Barlaz Papers, to argue that after the Holocaust Jews used Jewish organizations to search for family. Charity organizations like HIAS, Jewish newspapers like The Forward and various Landsmanshaftn were all used by George Barlaz to look for his family. From the search for family, new relationships were formed between searchers and those who were helping them find their family. George Barlaz developed a strong friendship with Moses Feinblüt who helped him search for his family and connect him with the …


“Indescribable But Never To Be Forgotten”: Challenging The Gender Roles Of Victorian Era Women And Expanding Cultural Horizons Through Travels Abroad, Camryn Counsil Oct 2024

“Indescribable But Never To Be Forgotten”: Challenging The Gender Roles Of Victorian Era Women And Expanding Cultural Horizons Through Travels Abroad, Camryn Counsil

Student Publications

Between the years of 1862-8, the Webb-Black family traveled the world on a Grand Tour to countries such as Italy, Austria, and France. In letters home to their aunts, half-sisters Augusta, Menah, and Julia detailed their journeys within the physical and cultural spheres of the places they visited. Later copied into a bound volume, these epistles gave voice to women’s thoughts, emotions, and conflicts when exploring the realm of the unknown. From a young age, Victorian girls were taught to suppress their opinions and merely expect a life of motherhood. However, the women of these letters pushed beyond what was …


"Kittenish Appearance:" Western Fashion In Meiji Japan, Harry Zhang Jun 2023

"Kittenish Appearance:" Western Fashion In Meiji Japan, Harry Zhang

Gettysburg College Headquarters

This paper seeks to examine the degree to which Meiji era Japan adopted Western fashion. It uses written and photographic sources to understand the attitude of Meiji era Japanese towards the introduction of Western fashion into everyday life, and the changing of said attitudes throughout the Meiji era and its implication on Japan's national identity.


The Perspectives Of Urban Renewal: Reevaluating The Image Of Late Twentieth Century Gentrification Of U.S. Chinatowns, Christian E. Manalac May 2022

The Perspectives Of Urban Renewal: Reevaluating The Image Of Late Twentieth Century Gentrification Of U.S. Chinatowns, Christian E. Manalac

Gettysburg College Headquarters

Urban renewal or gentrification has affected many low-income minority families in the United States with redevelopment projects that destroyed their neighborhoods for the affluent white middle class. Unlike, many minority groups who protested against the intrusive practice Chinatowns communities saw themselves divided over the issue. Chinatowns throughout the nation benefitted from redevelopment projects that brought new investments into their neighborhoods’ businesses, but like other minority neighborhood, they also suffered as their residents were displaced. This case study examines the debates over urban renewal of Philadelphia and Washington D.C’s Chinatowns through local newspaper coverage from the 1970s-1990s. Specifically, this study uncovers …


Beneath The Tower: The Story Of A Campus Icon, Ziv R. Carmi Oct 2021

Beneath The Tower: The Story Of A Campus Icon, Ziv R. Carmi

Student Publications

A history of Glatfelter Hall, one of the most iconic buildings on the Gettysburg College campus. This paper also aims to compare Glatfelter with a similarly iconic building on the campus of UVA, the Rotunda. Finally, it proposes a series of interpretive markers about the history of Glatfelter Hall both in terms of content and placement.


Close, But No Cigar: Tobacco Usage During The Civil War Era, Benjamin M. Roy Oct 2020

Close, But No Cigar: Tobacco Usage During The Civil War Era, Benjamin M. Roy

Student Publications

Tobacco carried a range of gendered, social, regional, and racial meanings in America during the nineteenth century, and these disparate meanings were symbolized through different forms of consumption. The cultural meaning inherent within chewing tobacco, cigars, pipes, and cigarettes, are the object of this research. I will examine the class associations linked to chewing tobacco, the manly identities symbolized through cigars and pipes, and explore cultural movement and racial meaning through the cigarette. Through tobacco, I will explain how nineteenth century Americans comprehended addiction, and establish the organic agency of consumable commodities to influence the consciousness of their users.


The Contradictions Of Freedom: Depictions Of Freedwomen In Illustrated Newspapers, 1865-1867, Carolyn Hauk Oct 2020

The Contradictions Of Freedom: Depictions Of Freedwomen In Illustrated Newspapers, 1865-1867, Carolyn Hauk

Student Publications

Between 1865 and 1867, artists working for Northern illustrated newspapers travelled throughout the South to document its transition from slavery to a wage labor society. Perceiving themselves as the rightful reporters of Southern Reconstruction, these illustrators observed communities of newly freed African American men and women defining their vision of freedom. Northern artists often viewed the lives of African Americans through the cultural lens of free labor ideology in their efforts to provide documentary coverage of the South as objective observers. This paper will examine how illustrations of Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper reveal the contradictions between free …


Social Egalitarianism: How Does Marginalization Affect An Individual’S Support For Welfare Recipients?, Brodie W. Edgerton Apr 2019

Social Egalitarianism: How Does Marginalization Affect An Individual’S Support For Welfare Recipients?, Brodie W. Edgerton

Student Publications

This work examines how identification in a historically marginalized group in the United States affects individuals' opinions towards welfare recipients. Using three marginalized groups: African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, and Women, this study compares how each group views welfare recipients while discussing how people in general view welfare recipients. This study finds that there are some statistical differences between the opinions of welfare recipients between certain groups, but not amongst other groups, indicating the importance of society on American politics in the present day.


Face To Face, Carl Beam And Andy Warhol, Keira B. Koch Oct 2018

Face To Face, Carl Beam And Andy Warhol, Keira B. Koch

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Keira Koch ’19 examines representations of indigenous cultures in prints and photographs by American artist Andy Warhol and First Nations artist Carl Beam. In this comparative study, Koch considers the topic of appropriation and re-appropriation of Native imagery. Warhol, as a non-Indigenous artist, is using this imagery to highlight the dominant narrative of the American West. Beam, however, incorporates photographs of Native subjects and traditional narratives by re-appropriating those images to tell a distinctly Native narrative. This exhibition invites discussion about the role of contemporary indigenous artists and how indigenous identities are expressed in contemporary art. This exhibition intersects with …


European Jazz: A Comparative Investigation Into The Reception And Impact Of Jazz In Interwar Paris And The Weimar Republic, Douglas A. Kowalewski May 2018

European Jazz: A Comparative Investigation Into The Reception And Impact Of Jazz In Interwar Paris And The Weimar Republic, Douglas A. Kowalewski

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Both Paris and the Weimar Republic were fascinated with American jazz in the interwar period. Because of jazz's connection to African American culture, this fascination is linked with the themes of identity and race relations. This work will demonstrate that interwar Parisians were not always receptive of African Americans that played jazz, and that the citizens of the Weimar Republic were more aware of and interested in the African American culture that permeated jazz in the 1920s and 30s.


Captive Body, Free Mind: Euphrosinia Kersnovskaia, The Gulag, And Art Under Oppression, Laura G. Waters Oct 2017

Captive Body, Free Mind: Euphrosinia Kersnovskaia, The Gulag, And Art Under Oppression, Laura G. Waters

Student Publications

This paper examines the art of Euphrosinia Kersnovskaia (1907-1994) as it relates to both the larger experience and narrative of the Soviet Gulag and to the survival of the artist. Larger trends of art made under oppression are used to find reason for such seemingly insignificant acts, and art therapy frameworks provide analytical bases for approach. By looking at such deeply subjective forms of memory and its transcription, individuality and humanity is returned to an inhuman penal system.


Rhapsody In Red, White And Blue: The Co-Evolution Of Popular And Art Music In The United States During World War Ii, Douglas A. Kowalewski Oct 2017

Rhapsody In Red, White And Blue: The Co-Evolution Of Popular And Art Music In The United States During World War Ii, Douglas A. Kowalewski

Student Publications

World War II was a watershed event in twentieth century American history. All aspects of life, including music, both found roles to play in the war effort and were forever altered by the conflict. Past work on the subject of American music in World War II tends to focus heavily on the nature and impact of popular music during this time period. While this paper will review and build upon this scholarship, art music during the war will also be considered. Using two distinctly different, yet complementary, autobiographies – those of army band musician Frank Mathias and composer Gunther Schuller …


Neurasthenia, Robert Graves, And Poetic Therapy In The Great War, Juliette E. Sebock Oct 2017

Neurasthenia, Robert Graves, And Poetic Therapy In The Great War, Juliette E. Sebock

Student Publications

Though Robert Graves is remembered primarily for his memoir, Good-bye to All That, his First World War poetry is equally relevant. Comparably to the more famous writings of Sassoon and Owen, Graves' war poems depict the trauma of the trenches, marked by his repressed neurasthenia (colloquially, shell-shock), and foreshadow his later remarkable poetic talents.


An Artist As Soldier: Seeking Refuge In Love And Art, Barbara S. Heisler Aug 2017

An Artist As Soldier: Seeking Refuge In Love And Art, Barbara S. Heisler

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

At the center of this book are the World War II letters (Feldpostbriefe) of a German artist and art teacher to his wife. While Bernhard Epple’s letters to his wife, Gudrun, address many of the topics usually found in war letters (food, lodging conditions, the weather, problems with the mail service, requests for favors from home), they are unusual in two respects. Each letter is lovingly decorated with a drawing and the letters make few references to the war itself. In addition to many personal communications and expressions of love for his wife and children, Epple writes about …


Paintings Of War, Museums Of Memory, Laura G. Waters Apr 2017

Paintings Of War, Museums Of Memory, Laura G. Waters

Student Publications

This paper examines the artists sent to the Western Front under Britain’s official war artists initiative. The government sought to utilize artwork for propagandistic purposes, and to foster emotional connection between civilian and soldier. However, the growth of the initiative to include some ninety artists complicated this. The experiences of the artists and the truths revealed to them by the conflict were vastly different, and examination of them as a whole does little to elucidate the character of the war itself. What this paper seeks to do, therefore, is examine three artists - Sir William Orpen, Lieutenant Paul Nash, and …


Helpers In A "Heathen" Land?: An Examination Of Missionary Perceptions Of The Cherokees, Andrew C. Nosti Jan 2017

Helpers In A "Heathen" Land?: An Examination Of Missionary Perceptions Of The Cherokees, Andrew C. Nosti

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

This analysis examines writings left behind by missionaries living among the Cherokees in the early nineteenth century to tease out the missionary perceptions of their Indigenous neighbors. This approach includes a heavy emphasis on decoding the white lexicon employed to discuss Native Americans to elucidate the broader cultural/racial intellectualism of the time. The utilization of this approach deconstructs a conventional “friend or foe” binary viewpoint of the missionaries, conversely constructing a greater complexity within the interracial and intercultural dynamics of the Early Republic, thereby providing a more layered and broader understanding of early America and, by extension, America overall.


From Crusaders To Flunkies: American Newspaper Coverage Of Black First World War Soldiers From 1915 And 1930., Matthew D. Laroche Jan 2017

From Crusaders To Flunkies: American Newspaper Coverage Of Black First World War Soldiers From 1915 And 1930., Matthew D. Laroche

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

This article concerns itself with the U.S. newspaper coverage given to black soldiers (primarily African-American) in the lead up to the U.S. entry into the First World War, through the war, and into the 1930's. In so doing, it chronicles the divisions that appeared within the black community in America as black Americans debated whether or not to serve a country that did not respect their liberties at home, the portrayal of black soldiers in U.S. newspapers, and the post-war betrayal that saw the rise of a popular silence on the rights of black veterans, and a forced return to …


Play American, Allen C. Guelzo Jan 2017

Play American, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Just seventy years ago, a Fortune poll reported that 62 percent of Americans listened to classical music, 40 percent could identify Arturo Toscanini as an orchestral conductor, and nine million listeners (11 percent of American households) tuned in to weekly Metropolitan Opera broadcasts from New York City. Astonishing. The “grand orchestra,” wrote Charles Edward Russell in 1927, “has become our sign of honor among the nations.” (excerpt)


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2017 Jan 2017

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2017

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


One King To Rule Them All, Tyler J. Mann Oct 2016

One King To Rule Them All, Tyler J. Mann

Student Publications

He battled for superiority over his fellow musicians in the shady nightclubs of New Orleans, led his great Creole Jazz Band in the early 1920s, and stood tall in the face of racial prejudice. Joe “King” Oliver was the type of man to not just survive but thrive—like any true king would.


Civilize Them With Indian Boarding Schools, Kelsey C. Meisch Oct 2016

Civilize Them With Indian Boarding Schools, Kelsey C. Meisch

Student Publications

Indigenous communities continue to be pressured to conform to Anglo-American culture. Through the use of Indian boarding schools, Indigenous communities were interrupted in a myriad of detrimental ways related to their culture, especially in regard to intergenerational cultural continuance.


The Roma And Sinti In Germany: Orientalism And Exclusion From German Historical Narratives (Romantisiert, Kriminalisiert, Und Abgewertet: Orientalismus Und Narrative Der Roma Und Sinti In Deutschland), Kimberly A. Longfellow Apr 2016

The Roma And Sinti In Germany: Orientalism And Exclusion From German Historical Narratives (Romantisiert, Kriminalisiert, Und Abgewertet: Orientalismus Und Narrative Der Roma Und Sinti In Deutschland), Kimberly A. Longfellow

Celebration

The Roma and Sinti represent presence and absence in German culture. Although there has been a population of Roma and Sinti in Germany for centuries, they are often perceived by the German majority population as distinctly "eastern" and, as such, non-German. The perceptions of Roma by the German majority population mimic Orientalist assumptions, where the Roma are romanticized, criminalized, and generally devalued in comparison to Eurocentric narratives. Through an analysis of the Roma presence in German history, literature, and current events, one can see that the experience of the Roma in Germany is largely structured by the perceptions and assumptions …


Vietnamese Contract Workers In The East German Republic, Sean W. Hough Apr 2016

Vietnamese Contract Workers In The East German Republic, Sean W. Hough

Celebration

This paper will analyze the historical and cultural conditions that affected how the German Democratic Republic treated one of its largest minority groups, the Vietnamese. During the height of the Cold War and as Decolonization reached its peak phase in the 1960s and 70s, these two factors pushed the GDR and Vietnam closer, which resulted in an exchange in workers. Contract Workers were brought to the GDR to work in an environment "united in socialist solidarity." However, despite this rhetoric, age-old racism, xenophobia, and Orientalism still infiltrated the so called "Socialist Paradise," as the GDR was often called by its …


Our Reconciliationist Pastime: How Baseball Contributed To The Reunification Of White America, Jeffrey L. Lauck Apr 2016

Our Reconciliationist Pastime: How Baseball Contributed To The Reunification Of White America, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

As early as the 1850s, the game of baseball was being referred to as “our national game.” At a time when the nation was being ripped apart at the seams, it served as a relatively new symbol of national identity. Baseball did not fully reach its unifying potential until after a bloody war that pitched North against South. However, these reconciliationist qualities did not strike at the heart of all Americans. [excerpt]


She Spoke For Those Without A Voice, John M. Rudy Mar 2016

She Spoke For Those Without A Voice, John M. Rudy

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Statistically, about 50% of Adams County’s history has been women’s history since the dawn of time. But it can sometimes be painfully difficult to find out about the women of our county and their experiences. And as with most history, it is the troublemakers who stand out in the records. Luckily one of Adams County’s greatest troublemakers, Elsie Singmaster Lewars, is easy to find in the files of the Adams County Historical Society. Mrs. Lewars had the courage to speak for those without a voice. [excerpt]


Another Day In Confederate Gettysburg, Scott Hancock Mar 2016

Another Day In Confederate Gettysburg, Scott Hancock

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Today the Sons of Confederate Veterans ‘celebrated’ the confederate flag at the Peace Light Memorial on the battlefields of Gettysburg. The same battlefields where some of their ancestors suffered a pivotal defeat, and then kidnapped free Black Americans as they fled south. When I found out the SCV had obtained a permit from the National Park Service, I did likewise so I could stand up there with my homemade sign that connects the confederate flag to some of its most seminal moments in history: fighting for slavery in 1863, fighting for segregation in 1962, and murdering nine black South Carolinians …